Marcello is the founder, creator and editor-in-chief of GamersXtreme. His dedication and passion shows as he keeps gamers informed with daily news articles and provides truthful, honest opinions on all gaming related news. Having experience with video game design, as well as over 20 years of gaming under his belt, Marcello has always had a massive interest in the gaming society. Originally, he created GamersXtreme in the style of a magazine back in middle school. Today, he has taken what was created as a basic premise and has evolved it into the site it is today.

Caveman Warriors was a Kickstarter title that aims to capture the spirit of 16-bit platformers. Spain-based developer JanduSoft cultivated a game that’s part Joe & Mac, part Trine, and part New Super Mario Bros. Does this prehistoric title deserve your time?

Caveman Warriors is a 2D action-platformer set in prehistoric times. Aliens have captured the tribe’s children and it is up to the four heroes (Jack, Brienne, Moe, and Liliana) to rescue them and prevent aliens from taking over. Each level has a few comic panels before starting to showcase how each area connects to the story. For the type of game Caveman Warriors is, this works out more than fine, as you are not here for a groundbreaking story. Games of this nature are where gameplay is the primary focus. So the gameplay…well, where do I begin…

As mentioned, the game is an action-platforming, side-scroller. You can either play solo, or local co-op with up to four players. Each level provides unique challenges and gameplay changes to help keep it from getting stale. Whether you are platforming a jungle, riding a triceratops manning a barrel cannon, aboard an alien ship, or even time traveling to World War II, there’s no shortage of varied levels. This was probably Caveman Warriors’ best aspect, it’s constant variety. Each of the four characters have different abilities and stats. Each of their health bars vary, but switching between them on the fly will have you maintaining the health across all of them equally. They each have their own weapon, ranged attack and special ability. There are times where you will have to switch to specific characters to further advance in levels. For example, Jack has a running charge that can break through blocks, or Liliana can throw her spear to stick on certain walls to reach higher platforms. This is a nice touch and really allows you to try out all four characters. Playing the game in co-op is definitely the way to go if possible, as that provided for a bit more enjoyment. Unfortunately, that’s about as positive as things get.

The amount of frustration I’ve had fighting with the game’s stiff controls and combat had me jaw-dropped at how stilted it felt. It’s been a long time since I played a game where the controls were so unreliable. All four characters have almost no range with attacks. The hit boxes feel off, leaving enemies to constantly take hits at you. It was almost a guarantee whenever hitting an enemy, that I would still get hit as well. Switching characters occasionally would not register at all upon pressing the applicable button. When it comes to platformers, control is all about precision.

Another infuriating element is knockback damage. Now, I’m not one to complain about getting knocked back a bit from taking a hit. Heck, even with how relentless the NES Ninja Gaiden games were with platforming and getting knocked back from taking a hit, it was fairly reasonable. Caveman warriors has you taking a hit and flying back a large distance, sometimes almost a quarter of the screen itself. I cannot mention the amount of times taking a hit resulted in a cheap shot to knock me into a pit or in the water, taking twice the amount of damage. It just leaves for truly frustrating platforming experience. To further add to the frustration, checkpoints are pretty few and far in between during levels, and you have lives between checkpoints. Also, the last checkpoint of each level before a boss doesn’t start by the boss. Instead, it puts you before enemies and obstacles that almost guarantee not making it to the boss with a full health bar. Lastly, one of the biggest oversights was one of the dialog boxes showcasing which button to press during the triceratops chase. It actually shows programming code, as opposed to the button you’re supposed to press. While it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what button to fire on the triceratops, it’s just poor QA to miss this.

Visually, Caveman Warriors is a very colorful and vibrant game. It has an almost flash-style appearance. Characters are well designed, as are the environments. Each area definitely feels and looks unique. It runs at 30fps and never experienced any framerate drops. However, certain objects in the environments look like objects you can interact with, but are just background. This was apparently in the second level where crystals illuminating the caverns would appear to be something you could break, but was just part of the background. Also, the game is constantly shifting its camera zoom, making many collectibles enemies drop almost impossible to distinguish. Audio wise, characters makes their own unique grunts when attacking or getting attacked, as do all the enemies. Audio effects are serviceable and definitely capture the game’s aesthetic. The music, while unmemorable, matches the game’s tone and works well during gameplay. However, there was a bug where the music in the map select screen never loaded after completing a level. It happened numerous times during our playthrough of it.

Caveman Warriors is an infuriating exercise in gaming. The game does throw a nice amount of variety in each level and has charm, but the unrefined gameplay mechanics, poor controls and stiff combat really make this game an absolute chore to play most of the time. The game’s setting was a much welcome breath of fresh air, but when the game itself just doesn’t play well, it leaves for a missed opportunity. Should the game patch many of its issues, there’s an enjoyable game to be found here. But until then, it’s best to avoid the prehistoric times…

Overall Score:4.5 out of 10 = Don’t buy it!

A special thank you to the publisher for providing us a review copy for Caveman Warriors! Copy reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

Enjoy our review? Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter: @GamersXTREME for the latest in gaming news and reviews.

Gear.Club was originally a mobile racing title released for iOS and Android devices from Test Drive Unlimited developer Eden Games. The team, alongside publisher Microids, has decided to pursue bringing their sim racer to the Switch as Gear.Club Unlimited, which also graces the console as the first racer of its kind. In bringing what was originally a free-to-play mobile racer to the Switch, they’ve converted this into a more premium product, with all the content available in-game without any micro-transactions. Has this racer shifted into high gear for the Switch platform, or is it stuck in first gear?

Gameplay: 4/5

Gear.Club Unlimited puts you behind the wheel of a variety of cars from the Nissan 370z, Ford Mustang, and BMW M2 to powerhouses like the McLaren P1 and Bugatti Veryon. When you start your career, your crew will put you through a few tutorial events to get acclimated to the game’s mechanics, progression system, and overall layout. As you race through the exotic (fictitious) locales along coastlines, deserts, mountains, and plains, you will earn XP and money to further upgrade your cars, purchase new ones and build the ultimate garage.

You will participate in race events, time attacks, and rally events. Race events have you racing against AI opponents, whether it be a point A to point B race, or laps along a track. Time attack has you racing for the top spot, while ghost AI cars are racing to compete against your time. Rally events are easily the most entertaining events, as these have you driving on wide off-road tracks, providing for plenty of drifting around turns at high speeds. Each event is perfect for pickup-and-play as well, ranging from a minute to three minutes per race (on average). Also, the game has a rewind feature. This lets you rewind the latest 10 seconds in a race should you mess up and need to refine your line. You have unlimited uses of these, but will detract from earned XP at the end of a race.

Whether driving on the tarmac in race events or off-road in rally races, driving feels tight and satisfying. The physics in play here are done quite well, and while never teetering towards full-blown simulation, it has a nice balance of arcade and sim controls. However, the game does provide full customization to tweak driving assistance. Whether it be steering assist, anti-skid assist or braking assist, you can fine tune it to your liking. Turning off all the assists will let you truly harness the raw power of each car. Frankly, I found myself grasping the driving better choosing this route. Unlike sim racers like Gran Turismo and Forza, this nice blend of arcade and sim-style handling works really well here and helps make it accessible to anyone who picks up the game. If anything, it’s more reminiscent of PS4’s Driveclub.

Throughout the game’s career, there are four class types: A, B, C and D. You will start at class A, which will consist of somewhat slower cars (but not actually slow), and each class will unlock faster, more exotic cars. Each class is broken up by three subclasses: 1, 2, and 3 (i.e. A1, B3, etc). Each number provides a set of cars used in particular tournaments, while staying within the confines of that car class. Certain tournaments will have a mix of all three subclasses, letting you choose whichever vehicle of yours in that class will be best.

This is only a small fraction of the expansive world you’ll partake races in.

When you’re not racing, you’ll be focusing your time in the Performance Shop, which is basically your own personal garage. This is interesting, as unlike other games of the genre, this has you personalizing and upgrading your garage and stations to upgrade your cars. You will drag and drop your vehicles around the garage to tune them based on the various parts. As you level up, you will earn access to new stations and items to place in your garage, as well as further upgrading the stations themselves to provide better upgrades for your cars. Placing a tire workshop station lets you improve the tires for handling, as well as the brakes. The wind tunnel station lets you upgrade the aerodynamics of the car, and other stations will provide specific upgrades as well. There are even stations to change the exterior appearance of your car, similar to what Need for Speed Underground. While not as extensive as those, what’s here is still very much in-depth. Another neat feature about the garage is that you can change the theme of it as well. Whether it be a 50’s diner or a modernized garage with laminated wood floors, it certainly adds to the personality of your garage.

Now, the game does stem from being a free-to-play mobile title, but the developers have scrapped the micro-transaction route to provide a full-on experience. Unlike other companies that try to push this controversial element in gaming, every piece of content is unlockable and acquired through in-game money. Better yet, the overall progression never once felt like a grind, but rather fluid and kept the pacing just right. There are also missions and achievements to complete, providing another element to earning more money to further upgrade your garage and vehicles. At the moment, you can only have four cars in your garage, with ten being an option in a patch releasing in January.

When you’re not tackling championships littered throughout the game world, you can partake in Leagues. This unlocks shortly after completing a few races and opens the opportunity to challenge others online. However, this isn’t so much a direct online match, but rather more about getting the fastest time on a daily challenge. Think of it like the way SSX’s 2012 reboot handled online multiplayer. Based on your career progression, this will showcase what league you will be a part of. It’s a neat way to showcase just how far along the career you’ve progressed to others. Another really neat feature is when looking through the leaderboards, you can visit any player’s garage to see what cars they have and how they laid out their garage. Additionally, there is local four-player multiplayer, and I can happily say the game runs smooth when all the action is happening.

In terms of controls, Gear.Club Unlimited utilizes virtually every method possible on the Switch: single Joy-Con, paired Joy-Cons and Pro Controller. Additionally, those who prefer tilt controls instead of an analog stick (or even D-Pad) can also enable Gyroscope controls, as well as auto-accelerate. After playing around with each of the control types, including Gyroscope for each controller type, the game honestly feels great to play on any controller preference. There wasn’t an instance where I felt the Pro controller made me play better versus the Joy-Cons, and even the Gyroscope controls felt great. HD Rumble is also taken advantage of here and has been implemented very well. When driving, you will feel any bumps and collisions, but will vary in strength and vibration location. If you start driving off the left side of the road, the left Joy-Con will start to rumble a bit, and vice-versa. Collide into another car and you’ll feel the rumble kick in different sections of either Joy-Con. It really lends to the overall immersion of the game.

Visuals: 4/5

Visually and aesthetically, Gear.Club Unlimited does scream the look of a mobile title…but one of the more visually enticing mobile titles. Cars are very well detailed here, with some really nice reflection effects being showcased. Lighting within the game’s environments are also nicely done, with smooth shadow effects and lens flares when the sun is setting in front of you. Environments are also well-designed, with plenty of vibrant colors to capture the exotic locales you will be racing through. The game runs in 1080p when docked, and 720p in handheld, all while running at 30 FPS. However, playing it docked, there were instances where a few frames would drop during races that were not happening when playing in handheld mode. It was nothing steady, but rather split-second instances that were noticeable, yet never affected gameplay at all thankfully. On the flip side, during the game’s multiplayer testing, we tried four-player split-screen and the game still maintained 30 FPS without hitches. Overall, it’s a nice looking game with a vibrant art style that’s very appealing to the eyes.

Sound: 2/5

In terms of audio, when you have a fast-paced racing game with no music during races, this affects the immersion substantially. While there is music in the game’s overworld, race intro and results screen, and garage…that’s all there is. When the game boots up, you have to choose between the campaign and multiplayer, and there’s no music or even sound effects there. Even the pause menu has no sound effects when moving through the options, it’s just silence. The sound effects in the game’s overworld when acquiring stars and unlocking content sound good, with a nice arcade-style vibe to it. The music that is here is largely unmemorable. Sound effects for the cars are decent at best, with some cars sounding a bit irritating (Ford Mustang, I’m looking at you). The engine effects do vary depending on the camera, so driving in cockpit view provides stronger engine audio, while the rear camera is slightly lower due to the distance from the camera to the car’s engine. Also, there were times during loading where you’d hear a car engine running randomly at the loading screen, then would stop after a second. It’s not irritating or grating, just odd and could use patching. It’s a shame since audio is such a pivotal component for racing games. While races are very quick, the lack of any race music is a big misfire.

Replay Value: 4/5

Gear.Club Unlimited has an immensely lengthy career mode, with hundreds of races to tackle and achieve three-star ranks in. This alone will keep you busy for quite some time. Also, customizing your garage is very engrossing, trying to make it look sleek and display your modded rides. Additionally there are daily online challenges through the Leagues to partake in and compete with others around the world. While there is no proper online multiplayer mode, there is four-player split-screen action, so that’s always a plus for local gatherings. Ultimately, there’s plenty of content to keep you coming back for quite some time. The only lacking element is that there aren’t too many cars to get and add to your garage compared to other racers out there.

Overall Score: 14/20 = 7.0 out of 10

Gear.Club Unlimited is a well-made, entertaining racer that certainly fills the void of realistic racing titles for the Nintendo Switch. The racing physics are tight and rewarding, the environments are vibrant and fun to race on, the garage building and vehicle customization is engaging, and there’s plenty of content to keep you coming back. If it weren’t for the lack of music while racing, this would be a great package for the Switch, but there’s no denying that hurts the experience. Look past that though, and you really have an entertaining racing title that is a very good first effort on the Switch. Racing enthusiasts have plenty to enjoy here and it’s designed perfectly for pickup-and-play sessions.

The days of movie-based games releasing on consoles have certainly become a dime a dozen nowadays. Years ago, almost any movie that could be made into a game was made. Universal has rebooted one of their monster franchises a few months ago, The Mummy. The movie was poorly received, but shockingly there is a game based on the property itself, releasing just in time for Halloween. Thanks to developer WayForward, we have The Mummy Demastered. So does the game succeed at the rare feat of besting it’s movie counterpart?

Let’s get this out of the way now…this is very much superior to its film counterpart. That being said, The Mummy Demastered (cleverly titled) is a 16-bit, 2D-style Metroidvania game, playing much like a mixture of their previous titles like Shantae and even more so like TMNT: Danger of the Ooze. Naturally though, the closest comparison would be Super Metroid more than anything.

The Mummy Demastered has you playing the role of an elite agent part of the Prodigium Unit, a group specialized in facing supernatural elements. Princess Ahmanet has been resurrected and it’s up to your unit to put a stop to her before she regains full power to transform the world to her liking. You will be in communication with Henry Jekyll as he provides you updates to the whereabouts of Princess Ahmanet, as well as hints to certain equipment in the area.

As mentioned, this is a 2D Metroidvania game, with a twist (more on that soon). You will explore various areas interconnected throughout London: graveyards, sewers, caverns, ravaged city streets, and a clocktower. Naturally at the start of the game, you’re only equipped with a standard automatic rifle, but as you explore the world, you will come across a variety of weapons like flamethrowers, machine guns, harpoon guns, etc. These will certainly give you an edge with more challenging creatures, and each weapon may be more powerful against enemies versus other weapons. Some areas and rooms will be blocked and require backtracking with proper projectile weapons or artifact abilities. Artifacts hidden in the world will grant your agent a special ability, such as phase dashing or running at faster speeds. You will be able to extract to different locations based on areas where helicopters are on standby. This is certainly helpful when backtracking and trying to access areas previously blocked.

Mechanically, there’s a twist that will keep you on your toes throughout the journey: dying. Sure, that sounds obvious to avoid, but if you die, your character will become an undead soldier of Ahmanet and you will play as another agent from your last save point. The catch here is that you will have none of the upgrades or weapons that you acquired with your now undead agent. You will need to hunt down the undead agent (thankfully displayed on your map) and take them down to acquire all the upgrades and equipment earned throughout the game at that moment in time. Oh, and don’t think you can just quit the game and reload your save to avoid this…the game saves automatically the moment you die.

The game will certainly provide a challenge, as enemies will not drop many health items. As the game does try to push the concept of dying and retrieving your equipment from undead soldiers, health is scarce. Health items dropped will only replenish a minimal amount. Ammo is not as scarce to maintain, but even if you run out, you can always utilize your default rifle which has unlimited ammo. Speaking of weaponry, you can carry up to two additional weapons to swap between. Figuring out which weapons to carry in your loadout is essential to survival, as you will quickly realize that your default rifle is quite weak. Loadouts can be changed at any of the ammo cache locations throughout the areas.

There are bosses to face in each area as well. Boss battles are large in scale, and gradually get more intense with each battle. The bosses are well designed and really add to the intensity of the game. Whether you face off against a giant scarab, or giant spider, or the other vile creatures that await, the bosses will certainly keep you on your toes. By the final boss, you really need to have as much equipment as possible, as you will truly be tested.

WayForward has Metroidvania platformers under their belt, and The Mummy Demastered is no slouch. Level design is very well done for the most part, aside from a few rooms where platforming could’ve been a bit more refined. There are numerous times where enemies will be an obstacle while carefully jumping, but getting hit will knock you back. Enemies occasionally throw projectiles and seem to do so before they fully appear on-screen, leading to a few cheap shots. Additionally, flying creatures such as birds and bats may have infinite spawning, leading to a bit of frustration trying to climb your way to the top of rooms. Outside of this though, the overall level designs really nail atmosphere and are laid out quite well.

As always, WayForward excels with their ultra-smooth animations and 60 FPS (for the most part). The game really captures the feel of a 16-bit game, with nice pixel art, and nicely layered backdrops with parallaxing. Even the foreground elements of fog add to the game’s overall atmosphere. It’s as smooth as a 16-bit looking game gets, given the HD coating for modern consoles. While the framerate is hitting 60 FPS, there were several instances of framerate drops. While this was tested on the Switch, both docked and undocked experiences saw the frame drops based on the number of enemies on-screen. In terms of music, composer Monomer has provided a truly superb soundtrack that easily stood out throughout the entire experience. Each area has music that hits all the right notes. The atmospheric and upbeat tunes engross you immensely and cannot be praised enough. By far, one of the best gaming soundtracks I’ve heard this year. Yes, it’s that good. Sound effects also pack a punch, with each weapon sounding powerful and creature noises fleshing them out.

The Mummy Demastered is a 16-bit Metroidvania done very well. While the property it’s based on may not have the best track record, the game itself certainly evades the curse of subpar movie-based games, and provides a rich experience. The superb pixel work, silky-smooth animations, tight gameplay, and sublime soundtrack really round out one of the best movie-based games, let alone an all-around great game, in quite some time.

Overall Score: 8.0 out of 10 = BUY IT!

A special thank you to the publisher for providing us a review copy for The Mummy Demastered! Copy reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

Enjoy our review? Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter: @GamersXTREME for the latest in gaming news and reviews.

The Switch has been a roaring success for Nintendo, and many developers and publishers have been jumping on board seeing this success. Gear.Club Unlimited is the latest title coming from developer Eden Games, the team behind the Test Drive Unlimited series. Published by Microids, this Switch exclusive title is looking to fill that racing sim void on Nintendo’s newest platform.

Here is what the press release had to say about the game:

For the first time on Nintendo Switch, players will discover an authentic racing car universe with Gear.Club Unlimited. They will approach the most incredible rides currently on the market, vibrate to the sound of high power engines to live a driving experience second to none in the most beautiful cars in the world.

With this trailer, which reveals the first images of gameplay, players will discover that these vehicles can be customized according to their taste and improved to make them more powerful.

Players will also be delighted to discover the first 16 super cars that will make up part of the game’s roster.

AC 378 GT Z

Alfa Romeo 4C

Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione

Bugatti Veyron GrandSport

Chevrolet Camaro 1LS

Chevrolet Corvette Stingray

Dodge Challenger RT/Scat Pack

Jaguar F-Type R AWD

Mercedes-AMG C63 S

Mercedes-AMG GT S

Mercedes-AMG SLS Black Series

Nissan 370Z

Nissan GTR

Pagani Huayra Roadster

Ruf RT12 R

Ruf CTR 3

Gear.Club Unlimited offers players the opportunity to test their racing skills on over 400 races in 3 modes:

• Derby mode: where players will challenge up to 7 other drivers.

• Rally mode: 4 drivers will compete on off-road tracks where drift will be essential to win the race.

• Time trial mode: where it will be necessary to achieve the best time.

Each championship won will unlock new vehicles, new car improvements and new races. Thanks to the modularity of the Nintendo Switch, players will benefit from Eden Games’ expertise in racing games anytime, anywhere, in handheld mode or docked using a home theater, alone or with friends!

Gear.Club Unlimited is set to release on December 1st, 2017 and will have a retail release. Check out the first gameplay trailer, screenshots and box art below!

What are your thoughts? Is this a title that interests you for the Switch? Sound off in the comments below.

Phantom Trigger is the latest indie to hit the Nintendo Switch courtesy of TinyBuild and Bread Games. This pixelart, top-down hack-and-slash, or “neon slasher” as the developer calls it, has you slashing, whipping and punching vile creatures through various environments. Is this hack-and-slash worth the experience?

Phantom Trigger has you start off playing as Stan, an ordinary human being who is married and trying to get through life. Things take a turn for the worse very quickly though, as Stan collapses on the kitchen floor in front of his wife. Suddenly, you will play as a different character known as the “Traveler” in a fictitious world that has zero semblance of reality. This distorted world has you meeting outlandish characters, each of which help hint at what is going on. As you progress, the game will instantly switch from gameplay in the distorted world, to seeing what is happening with Stan in the real world. There are times when you will choose the dialogue for both characters to carry a tone and weight to the story. Certain items you collect and how you utilize them will also affect the ending. While it doesn’t take long to realize what is really going on here, the premise is really intriguing. Phantom Trigger’s story is by far its main highlight. It’s a very engaging story that tackles a fairly important struggle in reality.

The game is a hack-and-slash at its core with some RPG elements in place. Playing as the Traveler, you will wield three weapons in hand: an ice sword, energy whip, and fire gauntlets. You can do three-hit combos, and each hit will garner XP for the weapon used. Each weapon is mapped to the face buttons and accessible at all times. As you level up your weapons, you will unlock various mix-and-match combos that will help when dealing with groups of foes. Certain combos may provide an elemental attack that can freeze enemies in place, burn them gradually, or even draw enemies in upon a small blast. Also, the Traveler has the ability to teleport dash, whether for dodging during combat or simply to move around faster. As you progress through the game, enemies will ramp up in numbers and variety. You will feel the combat intensifying the further you progress. If things get too hectic for you, you can always grab a buddy to play local co-op together. There are times when you can breeze past combat, but several segments where the environment will be sealed around you, forcing you to defeat everyone before advancing.

When you’re not fighting for your survival, you will be scouring the environment finding obscure items and solving puzzles. This does help break up the combat a bit. The items collected will seem odd or even out-of-place, but by the end, they are there for a reason. There are occasionally shrines you will come across as well that will boost your XP for specific weapons. Each weapon can reach up to level 7, which is the max. By the end of the game, you will have maxed out all three wielded weapons without any issue or unnecessary grind (unless of course you didn’t mix up your combat). Certain areas will require some minor puzzle-solving to open locked doors. This can consist of playing essentially “Simon Says” by hitting totems in a right order with the right colored ability, or moving a mine cart around a maze of tracks to collect a specific item. It does help break up the pacing of the game. Also, the end of each level has you facing a boss. These boss battles will require your wits and thinking outside the box to solve. The bosses are actually well-done for the most part, but one particular boss will really have you scratching your head that resulted in pure luck to figure out. Upon beating the game, there’s an Arena mode to unlock, which is basically an endurance mode.

Phantom Trigger does have some issues unfortunately that do hurt the overall package. First off, the game’s initial load time takes almost one minute just to get to the main menu. That is a very lengthy loading time, especially where it’s just a single image to look at that would make you think the game froze. Second, there are several times during dialogue sequences where some of the words are misspelled. Third, the framerate takes quite a hit during combat, specifically in the second half of the game where there are significantly more enemies on-screen. Third, there are some collision detection glitches that occurred. There were two times when I was able to run through a wall. There was a combat sequence where I was closed off from escaping, yet I was able to run right through the barrier. This segment I tested a few times and it was always the same spot and barrier I could run through. There’s a segment with a mine-cart that shows the cart continuing off the track and out of the level entirely. What’s strange is if you run in the opposite direction and then run back to where the mine-cart should’ve stopped, it will magically appear there. Thankfully this is a glitch that fixes itself, but happened almost every other time the mine-cart hit a corner it was supposed to stop at. Now the game features four different endings, which means you’ll need to replay the game a few times to see each ending (should you make the right choices). Unfortunately, there is no New Game + mode to make it easier to return to. Combat is neat and all, but it does get repetitive after a short while. Also, the game’s checkpoint system is a bit flawed. I’m all for challenging games, but checkpoints are very easy to bypass here, and dying can set you back upwards to ten minutes of progress. May not sound like a lot, but it adds up when you keep dying in the same spot. Lastly, the level designs can be maze-like, and there is no map system what-so-ever. While checkpoints usually direct you on where to go, it’s very easy to find yourself going in circles or getting lost.

Visually, Phantom Trigger is a nicely detailed pixel-art title. Animations are pretty smooth for all the characters, and the environments all have a specific style to them. The game runs at 60 fps…well, it tries to but ends up dropping closer to 30 fps most of the time. It doesn’t make the game unplayable by any means, but the drops were very noticeable and consistent. Audio wise, the soundtrack that is here accompanies the game decently, but nothing that stood out. Honestly, the music takes a backseat for most of the experience. Sound effects on the other hand do a great job of distinguishing the combat. Each attack from the weapons have a distinct, almost musical, tone to them. Even the audio that plays when you get closed off in an encounter just sounds very cool. I just wish the soundtrack stood out more during the game.

Overall, Phantom Trigger is a neat game that tells a gripping plot. The story alone was the driving factor to see where it was going next. In terms of gameplay, what is here is solid, but certainly repetitive. Couple that with some technical issues and odd game design decisions, and it just feels like a little more time was needed to polish it up. It’s a good game that’s worth your time for its story, but it was hard to return to upon completing it.

Overall Score: 6.5 out of 10 = Wait for a price drop…

A special thank you to the publisher for providing us a review copy for Phantom Trigger! Copy reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

Enjoy our review? Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter: @GamersXTREME for the latest in gaming news and reviews.

When it comes to gaming, the late 80s and early 90s era was one that many found to be the golden age of gaming. Simplistic, yet addictive and downright fun games where you didn’t focus so much on getting those “cinematic experiences”. Back in 2012, Brian Provinciano released a dream title of his, Retro City Rampage. Single-handledly developed by him over the course of five years, it released to consistent high praise. In early 2014, he released an updated version called Retro City Rampage DX, which tweaked a variety of elements to fine-tune the game even further. Vblank Entertainment has tried to bring this game to virtually every platform possible (it even got an MS-DOS version!). With the studio’s latest game, Shakedown Hawaii, preparing for release, they’ve decided to also bring their predecessor to the Nintendo Switch. How does the title fare on Nintendo’s new platform?

Retro City Rampage DX is a top-down, GTA style game with 8-bit visuals. You’ll take control of Player, who’s looking for some dirty work to make some cash. From here, he’ll partake in a wild adventure that’ll span over a few decades of gaming and pop-culture that influence the city of Theftopolis. Right from the beginning, you’ll be pulling a bank heist that replicates the intro of The Dark Knight, then run into a time machine to evade the cops, teleport back in time, meet up with Doc (Back to the Future reference) and “borrow” his DeLorean. From there, you’ll be working with Doc to get the DeLorean working again and if Player’s journey wasn’t wacky enough already, the events that await him are only more above and beyond. There’s even a mission where you’ll plant bombs underneath the dam, which happens to be the same area as the bomb defusing mission from the original TMNT NES game, electric seaweeds and all. It’s these moments where the game shines at its top.

As I mentioned before, Retro City Rampage is a GTA style game where you have the whole city of Theftopolis to explore at your disposal. When it comes to combat, there are a whole variety of weapons you can utilize. Interestingly, there are two forms of shooting mechanics: standard lock-on and twin-stick shooter. Fans of twin-sticks will really dig this feature and those who feel that locking-on to enemies is easier for them can go that route too. This gives players options so they don’t feel restricted to only one style. You’ll have your standard firearms but also get weapons that pertain to classic franchises such as Ghostbusters, Bionic Commando and Zelda, just to name a few. These mechanics apply not only to firearms, but melee weapons as well. There’s also a cover mechanic in place that works pretty well. Simply pressing the X button near an object will let Player snap to cover and you’ll be able to move around, peek out of cover and take aim at enemies with ease. If you’re evading enemies, you also have an “air stomp” ability so that you can get the drop on foes. Later in the game, you’ll upgrade this ability to the point where enemies go flying away from your stomps (thanks to a “Radioactive Plumber”). Handling vehicles is very accessible and easy to grasp. All the vehicles have their own speed and handling differences but no matter which type it is, they’re incredibly simple to use. Vehicles range from your average cars, to the TMNT van (which has a Ninja Turtle driving it), to bikes and skateboards, and even shopping carts.

Brian Provinciano clearly has a love for the classic gaming era and it shows. The city is superbly crafted, littered with gaming and pop-culture references around every city block. Whether you come across “Bimmy and Jimmy’s” (Double Dragon), Pizza Gaiden (Ninja Gaiden), and billboards that pertain to certain 80s/90s culture, Retro City Rampage DX is littered with a ton to see. You can go to a variety of places to change Player’s hairstyle and overall image, and there are a ton of different styles to choose from (over 200 styles). Should you come across specific guest appearances in the game, you’ll get the ability to play as them. There’s also Nolan’s Arcade, which contains three mini-games based on other particular franchises out there. You’ve got Bit.Trip Runner, Virtual Meat Boy and Epic Meal Time. Bit.Trip Runner is exactly what you’d expect if you’ve played it before. If you’ve never experienced it before, it’s a title where you’ll run along a 2D plane and have to jump and kick your way to the end of the stage while collecting the coins. It starts off simple, but quickly ramps up in difficulty. Virtual Meat Boy plays like a Rad Racer, where you’ll run along a trap-infested street and have to perfectly dodge everything coming at you. As the title insinuates, you’ll view the game with a Virtual Boy filter and should you have red and blue 3D glasses, you can use those to view the game in 3D. Lastly is Epic Meal Time. Here you’re presented with a Mortal Kombat “Test your Might” mechanic in which you must rapidly button press to fill up your meter and press the action button after passing the success line to dig in to that food and survive. These mini-games are a ton of fun to play and found myself coming back to Nolan’s Arcade quite often during my downtime.

Upon completing 62 story missions, you can still free roam the city and raise complete carnage. there are also 40+ additional Arcade mode missions to tackle on the side. All the Arcade missions provide a solid challenge and will keep you occupied for some time if you try to achieve a gold medal in each one. There’s also leaderboard support for all of these missions, as well as for the story mode. For those that like to watch replays of their footage, you can save footage of anything you’ve done in-game as well. After completing the story, you’ll unlock “Retro City Rampage Turbo” mode, which greatly accelerates the game’s speed.

When I last review RCR back in 2012, I had mentioned that my main gripe was the unbalanced difficulty curve. With the DX version, the difficulty has been rebalanced to be much less frustrating. That’s not to say the challenge has been removed, but certain missions were absurdly difficult in the original release. The tweaks made here are very noticeable and make progressing through the story much more enjoyable. Also the HUD and camera have been tweaked. In the original, there was a status bar on the top of the screen. Now the layout is much cleaner, removing the bar entirely for more in-game screen space. However, the original status bar can be turned back on in the Options menu. Additionally, the camera has been adjusted to be zoomed-in a bit, bringing you closer to the action. This truly made the gameplay feel even better than it already was. Like the HUD though, you can adjust the camera zoom from between 1x to 3x.

The visuals in RCR DX are absolutely spot-on. The 8-bit style works perfectly here, full of vibrant and detailed sprites, while running at 60 fps. Everything about it screams retro, between its color palette, sprite designs and animations. To make things even more retro and in-depth, there are a ton of visual filters and frames to mix-and-match to your liking. Want an old-school TV frame with scanlines and NES color imaging? You can do that. Want to play the game with a Game Boy frame and color filtering? You can do that too. You can even make the game have SEGA Genesis, Virtual Boy, Black and White, and MS-DOS color filtering! Just toying around with these settings and seeing the different visual styles appearing on-screen is an absolute blast. In terms of audio, you’ve got over 2 and a half hours of 8-bit composed music from Jake “Virt” Kaufman (Bloodrayne: Betrayal, Double Dragon Neon, Shantae), Freddy DNA (NBA Jam) and Norrin Radd. The soundtrack really fits the game perfectly and I could see myself driving around town listening to this. It’s a retro-style soundtrack that’s very memorable.

Retro City Rampage DX takes everything that made the original awesome, and further refines it to perfection. RCR DX oozes of beloved gaming and pop-culture references that is impossible not to smile or chuckle at. The amount of content and features are staggering, but what makes it stand out even more is that it was all done by a single person, not a 600 person studio. Retro City Rampage DX is an absolute must-own title and Switch owners should not dismiss this title by any means.

Overall Score: 10 out of 10 = BUY IT!

A special thank you to the publisher for providing us a review copy for Retro City Rampage DX! Copy reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

Enjoy our review? Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter: @GamersXTREME for the latest in gaming news and reviews.

Zen Studios has certainly acquired quite the reputation with their excellent Zen Pinball titles, which are available on almost every platform to date. Since then though, the team has only worked on a few titles outside of their big pinball hit, such as Punisher: No Mercy and Planet Minigolf (both of which were PS3 exclusive titles). After some time, they’ve decided to take a break from their pinball roots and return to a familiar field, minigolf. Infinite Minigolf has now released for PC, PS4, X1, and Switch, and is a sequel to Planet Minigolf. Is this minigolf game worth the putt or is it a complete bogey?

Minigolf has always been about varied, fun locales brimming with imaginative set pieces and scenery. With Infinite Minigolf, the wacky locales are here, but as are some unique twists. This isn’t your typical minigolf game, but rather a more fast-paced, over-the-top game of putt-putt. You will enter tournaments across three different locales: Giant Home, Nightmare Mansion, and Santa’s Workshop. Giant Home is kind of like Andy’s Room from Toy Story, with plenty of toys and games that fill up the environment. Nightmare Mansion is your Halloween-themed environment full of bats, spiders, swinging spike pendulums and tombstones. Lastly, Santa’s Workshop is your snow-filled, Christmas-themed environment filled with elves, candy canes, presents and plenty of ice. Each locale feels very unique and provides their own identity (and challenges) to each course.

Infinite Minigolf is not about getting the ball sunk into the hole with the least amount of hits. Well, it is, but the game revolves around who can get the highest amount of points within nine holes. Throughout each of the courses, there are blue orbs littered around to collect, as well as a purple diamond. Getting these will bump up your score quite a bit, especially the purple diamond. Additionally, the real curve ball mechanic are the power-ups that are attainable at each hole. These power-ups range from rocketing a ball forward, getting full control of where the ball rolls (within the momentum the ball has from the hit), stopping a ball in place, blasting items away from your ball, magnetizing the ball into the hole, etc. These really change the dynamic of the game and really help push the fast-paced flow of gameplay. Controls also help with the game’s flow, and are quite simple for anyone to grasp. You can turn the character with the left analog stick, and then control the power of the hit by pulling back on the right analog stick. You can control the power meter by slowly maneuvering the right analog stick from its centered position and all-the-way back, and vice versa. Any other buttons to use are highlighted on the game’s HUD. It’s simple and intuitive, making it accessible for anyone to play.

The game’s core mode is the Tournament mode. You go up against three AI opponents and compete to have the highest score by the end of the nine holes. There are four tournaments in each of the three locales, with three difficulties to work your way up through. However, the game’s highlight is by far its Course Editor mode. The Course Editor mode gives you an unprecedented amount of freedom creating the course that hits all the right notes. You can choose which of the locales you want to build a course on, then cycle through an abundant amount of pieces to put everything together. Straightaways, curves, spiral loops, upside-down loops, speed boosts, interactive pieces, power-ups, orbs, diamonds…the options are tremendous. You can choose the height of the course and even place objects on and off the course to further add life to the course. Now, it should be noted that there is no tutorial in place to learn the Course Editor. However, there’s nothing here that can’t be figured out by spending 10-20 minutes playing around with the tools provided. You can test out your course, and then go back to editing seamlessly, tweaking each element to your liking. Once done, you will have to test the course and finish it to validate that it’s ready for uploading. When all is said and done, you will then name your course and once uploaded, it will be available for all Infinite Minigolf players. So if you make a course on the Switch version, PS4, X1 and PC players will be able to play your course as well. This universal connection for user-created content is outstanding and removes any restrictions of trying courses that all Infinite Minigolf players create.

Infinite Minigolf gives you a range of characters to play as, each with their own personality. Each character reacts differently to how they sink the ball in the hole with unique winning poses and one-liners. However, you can also create your own character. As you win tournaments and also level up throughout the game, you will earn cards pertaining to each set of clothing and gear. You will use these cards to unlock the clothing and gear you’d like equipped for your custom character. Hairstyles, shirts, pants, belts, shoes, clubs and golf balls are all customizable. This method of unlocking content is a bit of a grind though since you get randomized cards for tournament wins. There are even challenges you can complete that will earn your gold coins, which can be used to buy a pack of cards. It’s almost like having currency, to buy currency, to then buy items. Thankfully, there are no micro-transactions for this, otherwise there would be some serious currency-ception.

When not playing solo, Infinite Minigolf features both local and online multiplayer with support for up to eight players. You can take turns passing the controller around or have multiple controllers connected (as much as the console supports). What is really neat is that there are a variety of modifiers to tweak for a match. You can choose to play with Classic minigolf rules, unlimited ball jumping, the number of strokes allowed for per course, etc. You can even make things really wild by changing the ball type as an egg, pyramid, puck, cube, and more! This really makes things interesting, and downright hysterical. When playing online, the game has lobby support. Simply open your friends list, send an invite and they’ll jump right into your lobby. Like local play, you can fully customize your matches (should you play a Private Match) or jump into a public match with others. What’s interesting is that unlike local’s turn-based play style, everyone here putts at the same time. Once sinking the ball in, you can watch the remaining players finish the course. If it’s a custom course, you can even rate the course while waiting. The simultaneous play makes things frenetic, but you can make it more so by turning on the ball collision modifier. The overall online experience was quite smooth, especially on Switch.

There are a few issues to be found in Infinite Minigolf. First off is the grind mentioned above when unlocking gear. Second, when controlling the power meter with the right analog stick, there seems to occasionally be a delay in the meter correlating with the control stick sensitivity. You can adjust the sensitivity in the game’s options, but it seemed to still have a split-second delay somewhat. It’s not game-breaking by any means, but could be just a tad smoother. Third (and this is entirely dependent on user-created courses), there are times when people will place speed boosts next to a ramp. However, if the ball doesn’t go up the ramp fully and rolls back down into the speed boost, it’ll never be enough power to get it up the ramp. This leads to the ball being stuck in limbo and leaving you at the mercy of the game, praying that the ball will move enough to eventually stop and let you putt again. There’s an option to skip the hole, and that seems to be the best solution, but you’re penalized with getting zero points for the course. Now this is more of an issue if it’s an online match, whereas a local match you could easily restart the hole. Fourth, on the Switch, there is no voice chat support at the moment. Here’s hoping Zen Studios provides voice chat support through the Nintendo Online app (despite its choppy start).

Visually, Infinite Minigolf is a very vibrant looking game, with clean texture work. Characters have smooth animations, as do the objects on course and the ball itself. As mentioned earlier, the environments themselves are very well done and are great to look at. The game runs at a locked 30 fps and never dips below that, which is nice. In terms of audio, there is a variety of sound effects. Whether you are using a power-up, simply hitting the ball, collision with the various objects…it’s all fitting for sure. The music also does a great job of capturing the environments you will be putting in, as does the main menu track. The odd thing though is that when creating courses, the music will play once, and then never repeat…just sound effects play at that point. This also seems to occur when playing online and waiting for the player(s) to finish, the song will not loop until you’re back in-game for the next course. It seems to be a glitch that could use some patching. Outside of that though, the audio is very catchy.

Infinite Minigolf is a great minigolf game that should not be overlooked. It’s highly accessible mechanics really make the game an easy to pick up-and-play game of putt-putt. There’s more than enough in-game content here to keep players busy for sure, but the in-depth Course Editor is the main highlight without question. Couple that with the ability to play and share courses that are accessible on all platforms and you really have “infinite minigolf”. Despite some gripes, Infinite Minigolf cannot be recommended enough (especially Switch owners since it’s perfect for on-the-go gaming). It was very difficult to put the game down. Even when taking a break, I wanted to keep returning to play a few more rounds and create more courses.

Overall Score: 8.5 out of 10 = BUY IT!

A special thank you to the publisher for providing us a review copy for Infinite Minigolf! Copy reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

Enjoy our review? Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter: @GamersXTREME for the latest in gaming news and reviews.

Cooking games have garnered quite the fanbase over the years. Looking back to games like Cooking Mama or Ordered Up, to the now plethora of cooking games available on mobile devices, there’s no shortage in this genre. However, there is something that those games don’t have, multiplayer. The team over at Ghost Town Games have created a cooking game that pushes the concept of co-op play (and competitive), and has been a hit on PC, PS4 and X1. Now the game has reached the Nintendo Switch, but is it the version to get, or is this one dish that would make Chef Ramsey shut it down?

Overcooked’s gameplay has a simple concept: cook the food items customers are requesting. As you scramble through the various kitchens, you will have to fry, boil, grill, chop and plate your items. The game’s story is interesting, as you start off by cooking during the apocalypse and this serves (pun intended) as the tutorial. Afterwards, you are sent back in time (to the year 1993) to improve your cooking skills. It is here where you go mission-to-mission trying to get your bearing as a cook. You always have a partner in the kitchen, whether you play local co-op between 2-4 players, or solo with a partner-switching mechanic. The game’s controls are easy to grasp, with only a few buttons to remember: pickup/drop item, action (chop, clean, etc), dash, and partner-switching (only when playing solo). The Joy-Cons can be separated and used as a single controller, helping push the co-op nature of the game. The HD Rumble also works superbly here, enhancing the cooking experience with clever integration.

Overcooked: Special Edition not only contains the core game, but also two DLC campaigns to tackle (best experienced after beating the main campaign). If co-op isn’t your thing, you can also versus your friends in the kitchen and see who the best cook is. If playing online is your thing though, that’s not an option here. Understandably though, this is a game that works significantly better as a local multiplayer game than it would if there was online multiplayer.

Overcooked is a game that is meant to be easily accessible to players, but nabbing three-star ratings on each mission will require the communication skills of a head chef. In other words, you must communicate with your teammates to truly excel. Each environment is designed to take advantage of the co-op design. One character cannot do everything in the kitchen, otherwise not enough dishes will get sent out to hungry customers. Communication is key, as is precision. The kitchen tables are grid-based, so placing items down will snap to the direction you’re facing. When cooking items, you will have to pay close attention to their completion meter, as once that is done, you only have a 5-10 seconds to get it off the grill/pan before it goes on fire. At first this seems like ample time, but later levels make you feel the time pressure. Should things set ablaze, you will have to use the fire extinguisher to quickly put out the fire before it spreads throughout the kitchen. It’s chaotic for sure, but that’s part of the “fun”. I use the term lightly because that’s the thing, the game can be “fun”…if it weren’t for its performance.

Unfortunately, the game runs very poorly. While the other console ports and PC version run at a steady framerate, the Switch version performs at a disappointing 20+ frames per second. In a game about precision, this is inexcusable and makes playing the game more of an exercise in frustration. The constant framerate issues really hurt the overall experience. Whether playing docked or undocked, the framerate issues are more than present. The visual appearance and art style itself is simple, but certainly colorful and easy on the eyes. Nothing jaw-dropping, but an endearing looking game nonetheless. The various locales all have a unique setting and are well-designed, whether it be a restaurant, pirate ship, icy lake, or food trucks on a highway. In terms of audio, the sound effects all capture the sounds of being in a cooking kitchen. The chopping on the board, the grilling, boiling, and other key sounds really do a great job. The soundtrack is appropriate and hits the right notes for cooking, but is does get repetitive quick.

Overcooked Special Edition is a game that should’ve been a great fit for the Switch. It’s a shame because the core gameplay mechanics are solid and it seems like there’s a fun time to be had here. Unfortunately though, the poor framerate, and inconsistent controls due to frame drops, make this game a chore to play. This is one dish that is fairly undercooked…

Overall Score: 6.0 out of 10 = Wait for a price drop…

A special thank you to the publisher for providing us a review copy for Overcooked: Special Edition! Copy reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

Enjoy our review? Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter: @GamersXTREME for the latest in gaming news and reviews.

RPG Maker is a game creation tool that has been around for quite some time on the PC. Its ease-of-use and plethora of options have made it a popular application for RPG enthusiasts, and newcomers, to get their creativity flowing out there for others to experience. The latest release, RPG Maker Fes, is now opening the game creation series to the 3DS crowd. This release marks the very first time it is available to the handheld/console market. So, how did Kadokawa Games do handling the conversion to the 3DS?

Gameplay: 4/5

Game creation tools can be hit-or-miss when striking accessibility with the user. Some game creation tools may be a bit complex or convoluted, while others (like Super Mario Maker for example) are incredibly simple and intuitive to use. Thankfully, the team at Kadokawa Games have crafted the latter with a truly great interface that took very little time to grasp. When creating a game, there are a variety of elements you can choose to create: maps, events, items, etc.

When creating a map, you will choose the size of that specific map, as well as what type of design it is intended for. These vary from an overworld, town, dungeon, or house/castle interior. Each one provides specific assets that pertain to those styles. You can choose if you want to create each area from scratch, or tweak any of the sample layouts provided. Placing objects on the grid-style map is a breeze, whether using the D-Pad/Analog Nub and pressing the A button, or drawing on-screen with the stylus. You can open up a menu and see all the ground textures and objects you can choose to place on the map. You will also choose the song that plays for each map (and can change it at specific spots as well, but more on that later).

Now, placing objects on the map is nice and all, but it doesn’t mean a whole lot if you can’t tweak its interactions. This is where Event Settings come into play. Here is where some basic knowledge of logic is useful, but don’t worry, as there is no actual coding involved. In terms of basic knowledge, it’s a matter of understanding how to place events to trigger, when they should trigger, and the order of events that should kick off when the event starts. It’s honestly not difficult to grasp at all once you give it some time. However, the game does have plenty of preset events to utilize if you just want to get your creation going in a playable form as quick as possible. With events, you will be able to do numerous actions. These range from transitioning from a house to its interior, reading signs, opening treasure chests (as well as what you place in there), save points, and even dialogue scenes between characters. There’s plenty of options to utilize here without question. Again though, I cannot stress enough just how accessible this all is thanks to its simple interface.

The last component absolutely essential to your creation is the Database. Here you will be able to get all your assets together: characters, party, monsters, groups, encounter chips, skills, weapons, items, your game’s title and info. The level of customization in this area is very impressive. When creating a character, you can type in their name, add a nickname, their profession, a portrait of the character to display, and a description of them. Then you will be able to tweak all their attributes, what equipment they start off with, and their grow speed (i.e. how quickly they level up). Creating monsters is handled similarly, except you will be able to edit every stat they have: HP, MP, Attack, Defense, EXP, Gold, etc. Then you can place enemies on the map as either invisible encounter chips (like Final Fantasy) or create characters that are visible to encounter yourself. Unfortunately though, there is no pixel art editor, so you will not be able to draw/create your own characters from scratch. You will have to use preset characters and toggle their color variation.

Combat is the one area where customization is not as flexible to create. Combat is handled in first-person mode, so never seeing the characters battle is a bit of a bummer. There are plenty of combat animations to choose from that are assigned to each weapon. You can even choose how many times a move can attack in one sequence, whether it can hit one or more enemies, whether you can sell the weapon or not, and what the value of it goes for. This also pertains to other items like armor and accessories that can be equipped. You can also create Special Skills for characters to use, such as magic or deathblows. You can even choose from preset backgrounds to have when combat initiates. The customization aspects are still more than effective for combat sake, but just wish the combat wasn’t restricted to first-person perspective.

Creating a title and game info is a great touch to provide your creation. Here you can choose what audio to play at the main menu, the background image, and a border frame. You can even enter in credits to show everyone involved in your project. Additionally, you can enter in game info so that you can highlight what genre your game is (granted it’s always an RPG, but can vary based on the themes you set), as well as whether you’d like it as a public release, or one that’s locked/unlocked for editing by those who download it.

Testing your game is an essential component to ensuring everything works the way you intend it to. Doing so takes no time to kick off, and it always saves your changes before you start testing. During testing, you can actually hold a button to remove any collision detection so that you can quickly move around your maps. Literally every component works as if it’s the full build of your game, meaning you can even save the game at points and load it from there during testing.

One more element that needs to be mentioned is the free RPG Maker Player application that anyone can download from the eShop. This lets anyone download and play any uploaded projects that creators post through RPG Maker Fes for free. This is one of the best ideas to roll out here, as it lets people share their creations for friends or anyone on the server to download and enjoy, regardless if they don’t own the actual game itself.

Graphics: 4/5

RPG Maker Fes certainly pushes for that 16-bit art style that truly nails that retro feel. The pixel art is very well done, with great environment textures and simple, yet effective animations. The game’s combat is entirely in first-person perspective and feels like a missed opportunity to showcase some very cool looking combat animations for the characters. The game does run without any issues or hiccups at a locked 30 fps. Considering the grid-based movement, this is more than acceptable for this gameplay style. Overall, it’s a great looking game that captures the retro style.

Sound: 4/5

In terms of audio, RPG Maker Fes has plenty of arrangements to pick and choose from. Whether it be tracks tailored to exploring the vast lands, interior homes, dungeons, castles, or even ambience, there’s something here that will fit the needs of your creation. Audio effects are also very effective, whether in combat or placing certain audio cues to play during scenes or triggers. The selection is again, very well done. Much like the visuals and assets, this is all solely based on the “Fantasy” setting that’s the only choice initially. There is more content on the way that will expand on the overall options and combinations possible. Overall, RPG Maker Fes has a great audio package with tunes that you will find yourself having stuck in your head when not playing/creating the game.

Replay Value: 5/5

RPG Maker Fes is loaded with nearly endless possibilities. The amount of time you will stick with this to really get your creations going is staggering. If you’re the creative type, there’s no question you will lose countless hours perfecting your creation. When you’re not creating a game, you can easily access the network and download others’ creations uploaded on the servers. The fact that you have an endless stream (as long as the community sticks around) of RPG titles to play will no doubt keep you engaged. NIS America and Kadokawa Games will also be supporting even more assets and overall content to utilize, leading to even more diverse creations over time. Couple this with the fact that anyone who doesn’t even own this can download RPG Maker Player on the eShop for free and play anyone’s uploaded games, and you’ve got a very robust package.

Overall Score: 17/20 = 8.5 out of 10

RPG Maker Fes is a truly accessible game creation tool that fits the 3DS perfectly. If there’s ever been a perfect fit to have a game creation tool, the portable format is certainly the way to go. The amount of content available at launch here is already very impressive, and we can’t wait to see the content updates in the near future. Having the ability to create your own RPG with a very accessible interface is sublime, and despite some minor quirks, is a must-own for all creative enthusiasts. Even if you’ve never delved into creating your own content, the ease-of-access makes it very addictive to stick with from the get-go. Do not let this title pass you by. Now if we could also see a possible Switch version of this…

Pros:

+ Very accessible tools

+ Extensive content, with more to come

+ Downloadable RPG Maker Player so that anyone can play your games for free

+ Great retro vibe in terms of visuals

+ Incredibly engaging to stick with

Cons:

– First-person combat only

– No pixel art creation system

A special thank you to the publisher for providing us a review copy for RPG Maker Fes! Copy reviewed on Nintendo 3DS.

Enjoy our review? Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter: @GamersXTREME for the latest in gaming news and reviews.

In the 90s, gamers were treated with a very welcome new genre in gaming, survival horror. While Alone in the Dark is theoretically the original 3D survival horror game, it was Capcom’s Resident Evil that truly garnered praise and popularity. Over the last two decades, the genre has changed immensely, trying to find immersive new ways to terrify players. However, fans of 90s horror games miss their fixed-camera angles and tank-style controls. Rainy Frog Games has created a survival horror nostalgic throwback to yesteryear, Vaccine. Is this 90s style survival horror game worth the trip back in time?

Vaccine takes place in a constantly changing, procedurally generated mansion. You will choose one of two operatives: Miguel G.P. or Rita O’Connor, both of which look like HUNK from Resident Evil. Upon starting, you are given a very brief plot that your friend is infected and you will need to find the vaccine to administer to them. You have 30 minutes to do this. As you scour the mansion, zombies and other deadly creatures are ready to rip you apart. You have no weapons on-hand, and must find any weapons in the environment to defend yourself with. There’s always a knife to pick up in the starting room, but firearms will be essential to your survival.

As mentioned earlier, tank controls are in full effect. You move forward holding up, backwards holding back, and turning left and right. You must aim your weapon holding one of the shoulder buttons, then pressing the action button to attack. You can aim up and down as well. It’s literally the same control scheme as the very first RE game. However, the movement controls do feel a bit floaty compared to RE’s tighter control.

The game brings some unique ideas to the table that changes the formula up a bit. For starters, the game is procedurally generated (as mentioned earlier). This leads to every single playthrough being an entirely different layout. Whether it’s the rooms connected in the mansion, the enemy placement, or items, no run will ever be the same. Next is the fact that you’re always on a time limit. In your first playthrough, you have 30 minutes. If you succeed, you will repeat the process (in a new layout) with only 20 minutes. Complete it a second time in a row, and you will then have only 10 minutes. Should you beat it three times in a row, the timer will diminish by 30 seconds each successful playthrough. If you die at any run, or run out of time, it’s game over and back to the very beginning. There are no checkpoints or save points.

Also unique is the XP system. For a game of this nature, it’s different to see that your character can upgrade their attributes in one of five areas: Determination, Stamina, Health, Aiming and Luck. Determination helps make picking up items, opening doors and reloading faster. Stamina lets you sprint for an extended period of time. Aiming increases the damage inflicted on enemies. Health increases your defense. And lastly, Luck increases your chances at better items appearing in each room. Each trait can upgrade to level 10 as the max. Every time you attack an enemy or open a door, you get XP. It doesn’t take very long to max out your stats…as long as you can stay alive.

Now the game is initially viewed as an endless survival game, where you keep repeating the scenario over and over. However, if players actually read the files left throughout the mansion, the story unfolds a bit. It’s through here where you realize there’s a deeper objective hidden in the game, rather than just always finding the vaccine and repeating the process. So yes, there is an ending to attain. However, the more you repeat the process, the higher your rank will get, which certainly helps the replay value. Even after beating the game and acquiring the “true” ending, I found myself coming back to better my records and see how far I could go up in rank.

Vaccine is certainly an homage to 90s survival horror, but the game does have some issues. First off, the character controls are a bit floaty and never really felt tight. It takes some getting used to, especially when the original RE’s had tighter character control. The next thing is that it can be a bit difficult to see items in rooms. They can occasionally shine a bit. Unfortunately, there are times the items are far away from the camera, making them minuscule on-screen. The camera also can lead to having a hard time distinguishing how far an enemy is from you (more specifically when having to knife them). You can aim up and down, but there’s no difference in damage dealt. Also, while I understand why there’s no map system in place, a map would’ve been great to have. There is also a puzzle in the game that starts off simple, but as you progress further, becomes a complete guessing game. The menu system can also be a bit confusing due to the actual highlighting of items being barely visible. Lastly, there are some grammatical errors in the game’s dialogue.

Vaccine is such a throwback, that it visually replicates the 32-bit era. While many will find the game “ugly”, it does a great job of showcasing the polygon nature of the visuals. Character models are blocky and jagged…and that’s how it was in that era. Even the font is jaggy. Animations on the other hand could be better and are quite jerky, even by 32-bit standards. It does runs at 60 fps most of the time. However, when playing in handheld mode, there were instances when multiple enemies in a room caused the frame rate to drop, as well as rooms with a fireplace. Playing on TV mode, the framerate dips were less evident. Audio wise, Vaccine has a great, haunting score that really lends to the experience. Audio effects for guns are powerful and knife stabs sound effective. There’s no voice acting, but there’s someone who announces the game’s title once you choose a character. Certainly a nice nod to Resident Evil or Alone in the Dark.

Vaccine is without question, a love letter to 90s survival horror, and that can’t be stressed enough. It’s not the lengthiest game, nor is it a very deep game. Yet despite the gripes I mentioned, what is here for the mere $10 asking price is quite enjoyable once you get past the learning curve. I found myself really enjoying the game the more I kept sticking with it. It’s certainly a niche game for a niche market…and that’s more than fine. It just needed a bit more polish before heading out the door.